8 — Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Rashan Gary declares for NFL Draft
The postseason roster shifting
has begun for the Michigan
football team.
Junior defensive end Rashan
Gary announced Monday that he
will forgo his senior season with
the Wolverines to declare for the
2019 NFL Draft.
“I would like to thank my
higher power, my family, the
University
of
Michigan,
the
students and the fans,” Gary
said in his video. “But I will
be forgoing my senior season
to make a dream come true to
declare for the draft. Thank you.
Go Blue.”
The
announcement,
which
came via a 30-second YouTube
video posted to Gary’s Twitter,
does not come as a surprise, as he
has been unanimously projected
as a first- or second-round pick in
the draft.
Really, Gary has always been
a highly-coveted prospect, no
matter the level. He first came
to Ann Arbor as the No. 1 recruit
in the 2016 class, out of Paramus,
N.J. His recruitment came down
to the wire on National Signing
Day, and his choice to come
to Michigan gave coach Jim
Harbaugh arguably the biggest
recruiting win of his tenure.
Since then, Gary has never
looked back.
He
amassed
166
tackles,
10
sacks and a forced
fumble,
helping
the
Wolverines
to a 28-10 record
in
that
time,
and any time he
got the chance,
he
expressed
his
love
for
Michigan and his
teammates.
“I
just
like
seeing my brothers, man, just
seeing what my brothers are
able to do,” Gary said after the
Wolverines blew out Rutgers,
42-7, on Nov. 10. “It’s ridiculous.
I’m just happy to see my brothers
eat. That just shows us as a team
— looking at the stat sheet — that
we’re improving individually and
as a team.
“... It’s great to be a Michigan
Wolverine.”
Perhaps
Gary’s
resume
at
Michigan would have been a
bit stronger had he not suffered
a shoulder injury this season,
which kept him on the sideline
for games against Maryland,
Wisconsin
and
Michigan State.
The
declaration is the
first in what could
be a large group
of
Wolverines
to do so. Junior
linebacker Devin
Bush,
junior
cornerbacks
Lavert Hill and
David
Long,
junior
safety
Josh Metellus, junior guard Ben
Bredeson and junior quarterback
Shea Patterson are the big names
that have realistic options to
move on from Ann Arbor, though
most of their draft projections
aren’t as strong as Gary’s.
Gary’s video did not clarify
whether he plans to play in
Michigan’s bowl game or not.
MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor
EVAN AARON/Daily
Junior defensive end Rashan Gary announced Monday that he will forgo his senior season to enter the NFL Draft.
“I will be forgoing
my senior season
to make a dream
come true.”